Notes: Pen session progress for Prior
Uncomfortable Borowski striving to find better location
By Carrie Muskat / MLB.com

CHICAGO -- Chicago Cubs pitcher Mark Prior said he is continuing to make progress after a 15-minute bullpen session on Tuesday at Wrigley, his second off a mound since getting hit by a line drive on his right elbow May 27.
"It felt decent and my arm felt good," he said. "Mechanically, I've got some things to do. I've got to get my timing back."

Prior has a compressed fracture in his right elbow, and there is still some discomfort. How will he know when he's ready?

"We'll evaluate [Wednesday] and see how I feel and do that every day, and then I'll be back," he said. "We're not dealing with something that's a normal injury. Your normal evaluations or normal terminology is different. We're dealing with something that's entirely not related to throwing, but it's in my right arm so it is dealing with throwing.

"Some things that I do on the mound, I don't feel anything [in the elbow]," he said. "But some things I do in everyday life, I do feel because I've got a contusion on the bone and I've got some issues there. We just go out every day and see what we can do."

Prior can't even say if he's halfway back. There is no set timetable, and his rehab is day-to-day. The Cubs medical staff gave him one day off -- the day after the injury -- and have been working non-stop to get him back on the mound.

"A few weeks ago, I couldn't do a lot of things," he said. "In San Diego [on June 5], I said we have a lot of hurdles to overcome. Fortunately, since that, it's progressed every day and we've seen improvement every day, and that's what we've been looking for since Day 1."


I'm really surprised at how quick he is coming back. I expected him to be done for the year at first with how hard he got hit.